Short answer: both IF you or your firm will actually write blog posts regularly. If you won’t commit to writing blog posts, then it’s a website format. This article goes through the pros and cons of each and how to best integrate both a website and blog.
The lines separating websites and blogs are blurring these days.
Blog features such as news updates and updated articles are being fed to appear on the homepages (another other web pages) of traditional websites.
Traditionally a website is a static set of pages linked together. The information (content) on each page seldom changes. A blog, on the other hand, is dynamic. Properly used, a blog has new articles and information posted to it regularly. Also, many blogs are interactive between blog publisher and readership primarily through posted comments found under the subject blog post.
These days, websites incorporate blog elements, while blog platforms can be configured to function like websites. This is great because now it’s very easy to use have both a website and a blog.
For example, our firm’s main website feeds/cycles 3 types of updated information in our left column (it’s a standard 3-column website). We list the titles for our 5 latest blog posts, articles, and news posts.
Integrating a blog and website like this creates a dynamic and fresh looking website. It is important that if you choose to cycle information on your law firm’s homepage that new information and content is added consistently.
Why should a law firm decide on a website or blog or both before building or revising your present website?
Because what you choose will likely determine what is the best approach and platform to use. Your options in configuring your website and blog are as follows:
A. Website only:
Website only means you intend for a fairly static online presence. You could incorporate a library page where you add
Pros for only a website:
- Much less ongoing time investment.
- The library concept takes of the pressure to add content consistently, yet does enable adding fresh content and information for your clients. This gives you the option to build credibility and add search engine optimized content.
Cons for only a website:
- search engines favor larger websites / blogs. Not adding content can adversely affect search engine ranking / placement. Yes, you may have a library component; however, if you have to have your webmaster add those articles to your website, that’s an ongoing expense. Blogs are typically much simpler to add content to than websites. So simple that anyone can easily add content quickly and painlessly. That said, if you can get library articles added, those articles can be well optimized for improved search engine ranking.
- Website alone doesn’t have the dynamic look because the content is more or less the same.
B. Blog only:
I don’t know any lawyer who uses only a pure blog, but I’m sure they are out there and do so successfully.
Pros for a blog:
- Low cost. With open source blogging platforms (more on this later in the series), very easy for you to set up on your own. You don’t need to know any coding language. It’s an out-of-the-box solution.
- Great search engine ranking potential: if search engine optimized (more on this later in the series) and content is added consistently, will rank well on the search engines.
- Build readership and viral capability. Blog posts, if you enable an RSS feed and/or e-mail subscription (like the top right of this blog), your readers can subscribe and forward your posts to other people. This can result in new clients. After all, if someone forwards one of your posts to a friend because the friend needed a lawyer, that friend will likely call you and is already pre-sold on hiring you.
- Blogs are excellent at building credibility. Because you write about your practice area, it’s an opportunity to share information; information prospective clients are looking for. If you do it well, then you can presell prospective clients. They’ll recognize you as an expert and appreciate sharing some of what you know.
- Blogging gives you an opportunity show a bit of your personal side. In my view, clients like this. I don’t mean to do a tell-all blog; instead, when writing you’ll develop a voice and intertwine personal experiences that give a taste about who you are that your website won’t be able to do.
- Stay current: because you have to update it regularly, presumably about your practice area, it’s an excellent motivator for you to stay current in your practice areas.
- If you’re part of a large firm, you may wish to write a blog about your practice area. Seriously consider getting your own domain for your blog and doing it separately from the firm so if you leave the firm, you get the blog.
Cons for only a blog:
- Prospective and current clients may not find a pure blog very user friendly. People have expectations about website layout, especially for businesses. Blogs don’t present your “what we do” information very well.
- Labor intensive. A blog with no posts for 3 months looks bad. If a blog is your sole online presence, be sure to write consistently. In my view posting twice a month is sufficient. Consistency is key.
C. Website with blog content cycled throughout and integrated:
An example of a website with blog integrated and the blog’s content cycled throughout is listing your 5 recent blog post titles somewhere on your website homepage. Another example is cycling 5 law firm news items on your homepage. By integrated I mean that your blog is part of your website (i.e. part of your website domain or your website is part of your blog domain).
I could write a full post on this concept alone. However, I’ll try to give you the gist of it.
Website and Blog integration
If you have a website, you can integrate your blog as part of your website domain or separately. If your blog is related to your legal practice area or law firm, I strongly recommend your blog be PART of your website. For the technically minded, this means your blog is a subdirectory of your website rather than a subdomain (or totally different domain).
Examples for http://www.lawyerwebsite.com
- Domain name: lawyerwebsite.com
- Subdirectory setup: http://www.lawyerwebsite.com/Blog (the hostname: lawyerwebsite.com)
- Subdomain setup: http://Blog.lawyerwebsite.com (the hostname here: blog.lawyerwebsite.com)
- Separate domains: http://www.lawyerwebsite.com and http://www.lawyerblog.com
A subdirectory is optimal because the search engines consider the blog content in a subdirectory as part of your main website domain. That means the blog content contributes to the search engine optimization of your entire website. On the other hand, if your blog is a subdomain or separate domain, your blog content does not count as content in your main lawyer website.
For example, if you have a website that you or your webmaster have optimized for the search engines and then you set up your blog on a subdomain or separate domain, your main website optimization efforts will not spill into your new blog. However, if your blog is set up in a subdirectory, then all existing search engine optimization efforts will contribute to your blog (and vice versa).*
D. Exceptions to setting up your law blog as a subdirectory – benefits of a completely separate blog
- A benefit of setting up your blog on a totally separate domain (i.e www.joejustice.com) is you now have an external site from which you can do some link exchanges that you control. I’ll be writing extensively about link exchange and building later. For this article you need only know that an inbound link to your website is good for search engine optimization. Therefore, if you have two sites, you can create links to specific pages on each site. Essentially, a separate domain gives you some control in creating inbound links.
- Another possible benefit of setting up your lawyer blog on a totally separate domain is the situation where you’re trying to break into a new practice area. If you are trying to establish a new practice are, you may not want to confuse prospective clients who visit your main website with your new practice area development. If this is the case, then separating your blog and website on different domains is the smart move. An example is this blog – thepaperlesslawyer. It’s hosted on its own domain; it is not part of my firm’s website. In fact neither mention the other.
- If you’re part of a law firm – consider:
- The firm may not want your blog integrated. Okay, no problem, you separate it on its own domain.
- More importantly, suppose you leave the firm in the future. You will want to take your blog with you. If it’s part of the firm’s domain, you might have a bigger battle on your hands keeping what you created. Keep control of your blog by getting your own domain if you have an uncertain future at a firm.
However, my recommendation for sole practitioners or lawyers securely settled a firm, is to integrate your law firm website with a law firm blog in a subdirectory format (i.e. both are in the same website). The benefit of more content counting as part of your firm’s website outweighs any benefits of doing link exchanges between your website and blog.
Pros and Cons of having both a website and blog for your law firm
Pros of having both Law firm website and blog
- Potential for great search engine ranking. I say potential because content alone is not sufficient. You must optimize that content.
- Build credibility by writing and publishing in your practice area(s)
- Potential viral marketing opportunity with your blog posts using RSS feeds.
- BIG BENEFIT UNIQUE TO AN INTEGRATED WEBSITE AND BLOG: your integrated site can cycle blog content on your website homepage to create a live and fresh-looking website.
- Your main homepage content can remain the same while you cycle updated information in a column or somewhere on the homepage.
- Maintain traditional website navigation look and feel for your clients.
- Simplicity: anyone can add content to a blog. You won’t need to pay your webmaster to add content (unless you don’t mind and couldn’t be bothered even logging into a blog platform). The point is you don’t need to know any html or other coding language to add a blog post. FYI: there’s website software that makes adding content very easy also. More on this later in this “How to get a Great Law Firm Website” series.
Cons of having both a website and blog
- A blog is time consuming to keep content updated
- You’ll incur additional costs for technical integration (unless you learn to do-it-yourself). However, once it’s integrated, unless your webmaster chose a terrible or complicated blogging platform, you’ll be able to add content easily yourself.
- You may also incur additional costs to revamp your website to include article title feeds on your homepage
- If you write bad content in your blog, you may actually harm your internet marketing efforts. You must commit to writing or generating good content.
If you’re a lawyer in a firm and your future at that firm is less than certain, ensure your blog has its own domain owned by you, unless you’re officially writing for the firm’s blog.
In my view, a great lawyer or lawfirm website integrates the traditional elements of a website such as a static homepage, an about pages, services page, contact page, profiles, case results, etc. and blogging capability. The benefits of integrating both website and blog for your law firm are huge … IF OPTIMIZED AND DONE WELL.
* Google won’t list all your subdomains in a search results page for a single search. If very relevant, more than one subdomain may be listed. Source: Matt Cutts’ blog post titled “Subdomains and Subdirectories“. Matt Cutts is a software engineer for Google.
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